Bart Lemmen claimed the biggest win of his career on the first mountain finish of the 83rd Tour de Pologne, taking stage 4 in Karpacz after a day of crashes, a 40-minute neutralisation and a late route change. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider held off Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) on the final climb to secure his first professional victory and move into the overall lead.
The 30-year-old Dutchman was part of the four-man group that decided the stage in the finale, alongside his team-mate Tijmen Graat, Scaroni and Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling). When Graat faded, Lemmen launched the winning move and then had just enough in reserve to hold off Scaroni by a couple of bike lengths on the climb to Karpacz. Axel Laurance (Netcompany-Ineos) took third, around 14 seconds back.
The stage, 161.9km from Zagan to Karpacz, had been turned upside down long before the decisive ascent. With roughly 40 kilometres remaining, a major crash ripped through the peloton on wet roads, prompting organisers to neutralise the race for nearly 40 minutes and to change the route at the riders' request. The day's early four-man breakaway - Dries De Bondt (Jayco AlUla), Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) and Polish pair Patryk Stosz and Tobiasz Pawlak (Team Poland) - was caught up in the chaos, with racing resuming with 40.1km to go.
